Highlands (Song of Ascent)

Scriptures: Psalm 139:7-12, Psalm 145:18, Luke 15, Luke 18:9-14, Psalm 23:4

Psalm 24:3-6, Matthew 17:20.

Structure:

• Introduction
• The hunger for God
• The river of grace
• The centrality of Christ
• Conclusion

Introduction:

Human development experts tell us there are different stages in the human life cycle and with each stage there is a particular task to attend to

For example, when we are very young we need to learn basic trust – without this foundation (or basis) of trust we can’t function or relate

Then in our teenage years we begin to discover our own identity – we learn to think for ourselves, figure out who we are and where we belong, where we fit

• Identity formation continues beyond adolescence

In early adulthood the task is learning intimacy – how to be close to someone on the inside, without getting hurt.

• You can’t really have intimacy without some sense of identity

By the time we reach our 40’s (or thereabouts) we begin to realise that we are not going to live forever and so we feel a need to use what time we have left to pursue the things that are most important to us

• You sometimes hear the expression ‘mid-life crisis’
• This is a phrase which can mean a variety of things but often it describes the feeling of frustration or confusion which comes when one is not free to do what they want to do but rather forced to do what they must
• Maybe you want to travel the world on your motor bike but you can’t because you are still paying off the mortgage and supporting your family
• So you make do by growing a beard (like a hipster) and riding your bike on the weekends, between the kids’ sports games and mowing the lawns
• (Now just to be clear, people grow beards for all sorts of reasons. So we can’t assume that everyone with a beard is having a mid-life crisis.)

When you get to the end of your life you want to leave a legacy

• You want to pass on something valuable to those you care about, maybe your wisdom, maybe your story, maybe your faith and hope.

Of course, we are speaking in general terms. Often the life cycle is more varied and complicated than the text books suggest, but the general pattern holds true for many

• The point is, where we are at in life’s journey has some influence on the way we think, behave and relate with others, including God. 

In fact, some of this life cycle stuff finds parallels with our spiritual journey

• We start our walk with God by learning basic trust – just learning to rely on God day by day.
• Then as we grow in trust our identity is formed in Christ.
• At some point in our journey of faith we may feel a deep longing for intimacy with God and so we search for ways to be close to God, maybe through theological study or going on spiritual retreats or spending time in nature or immersing ourselves in Christian music.

Inevitably there comes a time when the beliefs and doctrines and theoretical frameworks we have constructed around God are challenged and perhaps deconstructed

• At that stage we have to decide what beliefs we will keep and what we will lay aside
• We call this life long process, with all its highs and lows, ‘spiritual formation’.   

Today we continue our ‘Anthems’ series

• In this series we are looking at the lyrics of one hymn or Christian worship song each week to see how that song informs our thinking about God and how it connects with Scripture and the heritage of our faith.

The song we are looking at this morning is called Highlands (Song of Ascent)

• This song is about the journey of faith, both God’s journey to us and our journey with God through all the highs and lows (the mountains and valleys) of our spiritual formation. 
• As Joel Houston (one of the authors of the song) says, ‘This faith of ours is a climb [an ascent] but we are not in it alone’. 

Highlands is a song which came out of Hillsong Church

• Hillsong is a charismatic Christian church based in Sydney Australia, established by Brian & Bobbie Houston in 1983.
• Hillsong United is the name of the worship band, formed in 1998, as part of Hillsong’s youth ministry.

The words and music for the song Highlands were written collaboratively by Joel Houston and Ben Hastings in 2018 

• Joel Houston, who is now 40 years old, is Brian & Bobbie Houston’s son
• And Ben Hastings, who is now 28, originally came from Northern Ireland

In an interview Joel and Ben talk about how the song Highlands came into being. Joel was actually in the Highlands of Scotland at the time

• He had just finished a project and was facing what he describes (with a chuckle) as a bit of a mid-life crisis
• He was taking stock, trying to figure out the next steps in his own life
• This is understandable – Joel Houston is like a rock star in the world of Christian music
• He has reached great heights – it is natural at this stage in his life that he should grow a beard and ask, ‘Okay God, what next?’   

The first line of the song and the chords came to him at 3 in the morning

• He didn’t know what it meant at the time but, like I said a couple of weeks ago, often the meaning comes later
• After Joel had talked about it with Ben for a couple of hours, Ben wrote the rest of the lyrics.

The hunger for God:

One of the themes of the song is our hunger for God

O how high would I climb mountains if the mountains were where You hide
O how far I’d scale the valleys if You graced the other side…
Cause in the highlands and the heartache You’re neither more or less inclined
I would search and stop at nothing, You’re just not that hard to find.

Some of you have two stomachs. A dinner stomach and a pudding stomach.

• I’m like that. Even if my dinner stomach is full I still feel a bit empty if I haven’t had something sweet. I love a little bit of ice-cream to finish.
• I wonder if the opening lines of today’s song describe a hunger for intimacy with God – a longing to be close with God on the inside
• It’s like we have a pudding stomach for God and no matter what other good things we might fill our lives with we never quite feel satisfied while our God stomach is empty
• Blaise Pascal said, ‘There is a God shaped hole in every heart’, meaning we are born with a desire to connect with God intimately.

So, if we have this God shaped hole in our heart, how do we fill it?       

• C.S. Lewis was once asked, ‘What makes Christianity different from any other religion?’
• And he answered, ‘Oh that’s easy. Grace.’
• What he meant was, with most other religions the goal is for humanity to try and reach God somehow
• But with Christianity it is different. In Christ, God comes to us.
• The opening lines of the song make this point – if we want to find God we don’t have to go far. God is near. He is not absent or hiding.

As we read in Psalm 139:7-12…

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.

And in a similar vein, Psalm 145:18…

          The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.

As you can see on the wall, there’s a line in the song which reads…

• You’re neither more or less inclined
• We might call this the disinterested virtue of God
• And by ‘disinterested virtue’ we don’t mean that God doesn’t care
• We mean that God’s virtue, his goodness and faithfulness, is not conditional on our performance
• God is good to us because of who he is, not because of what we do   
• God’s love is steadfast – he is not fickle, his character remains consistent
• It’s the idea that there is nothing we can do to make God love us more and nothing we can do to make him love us less.
• This doesn’t mean God will indulge our evil (sometimes God’s steadfast love moves him to discipline us) – it just means we don’t need to earn God’s favour. It is freely given.
• God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. [Matthew 5:45]

Given the constancy of God’s steadfast love and given his disinterested virtue, the chorus suggests what our response needs to be…

So I will praise You on the mountain
And I will praise you when the mountain’s in my way
You’re the summit where my feet are
So I will praise You in the valleys all the same
No less God within the shadows
No less faithful when the night leads me astray
You’re the Heaven where my heart is
In the highlands and the heartache all the same

Just as God’s love and goodness does not depend on us, so too our praise and worship of God should not depend on our circumstances

• We praise and worship God for who he is, not for how we experience life or how we feel
• I am reminded of the example of Job. After he had lost all his wealth and all his children had been killed, he fell to the ground in worship and said,
• The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.
• This shows that Job had a strong basis or foundation of trust in the Lord.
• He wasn’t relying on his wealth or his children – his life & faith was based on the name of the Lord (on God’s reputation and integrity). 
• Like the song says, I will praise you on the mountain… and I will praise you in the valleys all the same
• In other words, I’ll praise you when things are going well and I feel on top of the world and I’ll praise you when life is hard and I’m down in the dumps.

The words in this chorus are incredibly challenging – we hope our praise of God is pure and doesn’t depend on our circumstances but, at the same time, we pray (under our breath) that this won’t be tested. 

I spoke before about mid-life crisis. Often the journey of faith formation includes a kind of spiritual mid-life crisis

• We (like Job) may suffer some loss or injustice and find that everything we had previously held to be true is now challenged and uncertain
• We may feel filled with doubt, confused, angry with God and ready to chuck the towel of our faith in
• These feelings may be symptomatic of a desire for something more real – a greater intimacy with God – sort of like being hangry for God  
• When we find ourselves in that space there’s a number of things that help. Firstly, be honest – both with yourself and with God. Don’t pretend
• Secondly, don’t throw the baby out with the bath water – figure out what’s important, what’s true. Hold on to Christ.
• And thirdly, find something about God you can honestly praise him for.
• Maybe you are angry with God and the last thing you feel like doing is singing a worship song – but you can still praise him that he is big enough to handle your anger.     
• Praising God saves us from self-pity and self-centeredness. Praising God takes the focus off ourselves.  

The river of grace:

On the wall here we have the picture of a waterfall

• Now there is no way anyone could swim up that waterfall – it’s just too powerful. At best we might stand below it and admire its beauty.

One of the verses of the song reads like this…

O how long have I chased rivers from lowly seas to where they rise
Against the rush of grace descending from the source of its supply

Now at first this sounds complicated, but it’s really quite a simple metaphor

• As the authors of the song, Ben & Joel, explain:
• A river connects the highest points on earth (the mountains) to the lowest points (the valleys) – that’s Jesus – he is the river that connects heaven and earth.
• ‘Our God [Jesus] came down the mountain like a pilgrim in reverse’
• We are sometimes slow to understand this
• Sometimes we chase the river against its flow – against the rush of grace descending (God’s grace is like a waterfall) 
• But we can’t reach God that way, any more than we could reach the top of a river by trying to swim up a waterfall. God’s grace is overwhelming

Following this metaphor of grace descending: just as water always chases the lowest point, so too Jesus finds us at our lowest point. It’s like Jesus said…

• Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• The poor in spirit are at their lowest point, which is exactly where the river of God’s grace finds them

Jesus told a number of parables about God’s grace finding people at their lowest point. For example, the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18

• The Pharisee stood before God, praying about himself, confident of his own goodness
• Whereas the tax collector stood at a distance, not daring to look up to heaven but instead praying for mercy
• God’s grace did not find the Pharisee because he wasn’t yet at the end of himself  
• But God’s grace did find the tax collector who was at his lowest point.

Continuing this theme of God finding us at our lowest point another verse of the song reads…

O how fast would you come running if just to shadow me through the night
Trace my steps through all my failures and walk me out the other side

Please turn with me to Luke 15, page 100 toward the back of your pew Bibles  

• Jesus tells a series of parables in Luke 15 about God running to find us, when we fail, and walking us out the other side
• In Luke 15 we find the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin and the parable of the lost sons. Let’s read verses 1-7 now…

15 One day when many tax collectors and other outcasts came to listen to Jesus, ² the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law started grumbling, “This man welcomes outcasts and even eats with them!” ³ So Jesus told them this parable:

⁴ “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them—what do you do? You leave the other ninety-nine sheep in the pasture and go looking for the one that got lost until you find it. ⁵ When you find it, you are so happy that you put it on your shoulders ⁶ and carry it back home. Then you call your friends and neighbours together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost sheep. Let us celebrate!’ ⁷ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine respectable people who do not need to repent.

God’s grace descends to us and, like water, finds us at our lowest point when we are lost and at the end of our rope

• God’s purpose in finding us is to restore. All heaven celebrates over the one who repents.

On the wall here are the opening lines of a poem by Francis Thompson

I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;

I fled Him, down the arches of the years;

I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways

Of my own mind; and in the midst of tears…

Can anyone tell me the name of that poem? [Wait]

• That’s right, it’s called “The Hound of Heaven”
• This poem was first published in 1893 and had an influence on J.R.R. Tolkien, the author of Lord of the Rings

J.F.X. O’Conor describes the poem like this…

“As the hound follows the hare, never ceasing in its running, ever drawing nearer in the chase, with unhurrying… pace, so does God follow the fleeing soul by His Divine grace. And though in sin or in human love, away from God [the human soul] seeks to hide itself, Divine grace follows after, unwearyingly follows ever after, till the soul feels its pressure forcing it to turn to Him alone in that never ending pursuit.”

We are complex creatures and we don’t always behave in ways that make sense.

• Sometimes in our spiritual journey we try to run away from God
• But the Lord pursues us with patience and love.

The centrality of Christ:

For Christians, Jesus is integral to faith formation

• We are saved by faith (a foundation of basic trust) in Christ
• We find our true identity and belonging in Christ
• We have intimacy with God through Christ
• And, whether life is stable or in crisis, we hold to Christ
• Ultimately, our hope and our legacy is to become like Christ.  

In singing about the God who descends to save us, Ben Hastings & Joel Houston remember the centrality of Christ

For who could dare ascend that mountain that valleyed hill called Calvary
But for the One I call Good Shepherd who like a lamb was slain for me.

This verse is about the crucifixion of Jesus

• Jesus is both the Good Shepherd and the sacrificial Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
• The hill of Jesus’ crucifixion is (metaphorically speaking) a low point where God’s grace is found.
• The line, who could dare ascend that mountain, is a direct reference to Psalm 24:4-6…

Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord?
    Who may stand in his holy place?

The one who has clean hands and a pure heart,
    who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god.

They will receive blessing from the Lord
    and vindication from God their Saviour.

 Such is the generation of those who seek him,
    who seek your face, God of Jacob.

As Joel Houston explains, Jesus gives us clean hands and a pure heart so we can stand before God in his holy place and receive his blessing. 

Of course, we can’t sing of Jesus’ crucifixion and death without also thinking of his resurrection and ascension to heaven – the two go together.

And so a verse follows on the resurrection of Jesus…

From the gravest of all valleys come the pastures we call grace
A mighty river flowing upwards from a deep but empty grave.

The metaphor used here for God’s grace is pasture or nourishment

• We feed on God’s grace at the lowest point – in the valleys 
• The mighty river flowing upwards is a reference to Jesus’ resurrection.
• Through faith in Christ we too can be carried upwards in the river of Jesus’ resurrection to eternal life.

The bridge of the song reads…

Whatever I walk through, wherever I am
Your Name can move mountains, wherever I stand
And if ever I walk through the valley of death
I’ll sing through the shadows my song of ascent

The bridge revisits the theme of spiritual journey which pervades the whole song. It affirms that (in Christ) God is with us and for us through all the stages and difficulties we may face in this life.

Your name can move mountains is a reference to Jesus’ words in Matthew 17:20

• I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

The mountain is a metaphor for some insurmountable problem

• Even a small amount of faith (or basic trust) in Jesus can restore our perspective and bring our problems down to a manageable size.

And the line about walking through the valley of death is a reference to Psalm 23, which talks about the Lord being our shepherd

• Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.     

Jesus’ rod is like a weapon that he uses against the forces of evil in order to protect his sheep, and his staff is like a shepherd’s crock which Jesus uses to gently guide his sheep onto the right path if we go astray.

• Jesus is the good shepherd who stays close to guide & protect us when the going gets tough

Conclusion:

One of the things I like about Tawa Baptist is the diversity of the congregation

• We are intergenerational, with people of all ages and stages of faith
• Where are you at in your journey of spiritual formation?
• Wherever you are at, God is near – he’s just not that hard to find
• May we all be aware of Jesus’ nearness and grace throughout the week, with the beginning of Lent on Wednesday (26 Feb 2020).

Questions for discussion or reflection:

1. Listen to the song, ‘Highlands (Song of Ascent)’.  What are you in touch with as you listen to this song? (What connections, memories or feelings does the song evoke for you?) 
2. How hungry are you for God? How do you feed your hunger for God?
3. What makes Christianity different from other religions?
4. Why do we praise God? (What is the basis of our praise?) Think of something you can honestly praise God for. How might you best express your praise for this?  
5. What can we do when we face a (mid-life) crisis of faith?
6. Discuss / reflect on the image of Jesus being a river of grace, finding the lowest point. How does this fit with Scripture? (e.g. Luke 15 & 18.) Thinking of your own experience, where/when have you experienced God’s grace most profoundly?
7. Discuss / reflect on Psalm 24:3-6. How does this relate to Christ?
8. Take some time this week to reflect on where you are at in your journey of spiritual formation. For example: Where have you come from? What do you need from God at this point? What are the next steps for you?